


Echo VI, part I - The Past

by pallidaa



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25509796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallidaa/pseuds/pallidaa
Summary: An army's main goal is to keep their people protected. In Wirra, this is no exception. The Three Armies work side-by-side to protect the land and its people: The Queen's Infantry, The Wirran Navy, and The Royal Air Force.However, sometimes threats emerge that the Three Armies aren't capable of dealing with. In that instance, something a little more specialised is required. In comes the Fourth Army - the Special Operations Units. Seven distinct divisions equipped to deal with the more unique threats or issues the country may face. One of these, the 5th Division (callsign Echo Squadron), mainly spends their time protecting the Queen and the Royal Family. But in times of dire trouble, they can be called upon to act as protectors of the land and people as well.
Kudos: 1





	1. Officer's Log - 21/6/2127

**Officer's Log - Thursday June 21st, 2127**

**Officer's name and rank -** Gallan Occamy, Marshal (1st Class), 5th Division (Echo Squadron)

* * *

I don't know why I'm writing this. I don't know why I let Aurian talk me into this. But, regardless, here I am to give my thoughts on the matter.

Yet here I am, being essentially forced into making a log for some successor of ours to read further down the line. Hello, future Field Marshal - I don't doubt you'll have an easier time than us.

Not to say that I think my team is bad; much the opposite. I'd give my life for each and every one of them, in fact I am morally obligated to. But then again I am also bound by the words of the Hippocratic Oath, or the modified version of it I took when I became a full fledged member of this division. Regardless, back to my original point: you'll no doubt have an easier time dealing with the Royals than we have.

The 5th (SpecOps) is an interesting division to work for. It's almost misnamed - we don't spend much time working Special Operations missions, or not what you'd expect that to mean given the name. We're not being sent out on life-or-death critical missions, or being dispatched to intercept some omnipowerful force and make sure it doesn't reach the land. Essentially, we're overglorified bodyguards. We're sent everywhere the Royals go, to make sure nothing can happen to them. Or, at least that's our mission statement. Given the Queen doesn't really go anywhere these days we don't have much to do in terms of defending them.

So why then, if we don't have to go anywhere, will you have an easier time dealing with them when they do decide to go out and meet the public? To put it simply, we have a lot of work to do right now. Whether or not the Queen knows we're doing it is another matter, and quite frankly, we don't want her to know what we're planning.

Simply put, right now the Queen is not actually a Royal.

A few months ago, the current reigning monarch was a much more open person. In terms of protecting her, our jobs were about ten times harder; she loved to mingle with the public, she didn't want them to feel that she was "above" them really. If I remember correctly, and I might not because I can't remember word for word what she said so I'm most likely paraphrasing her here, but she used to say "A monarch's duty is to serve her people, not have her people serve her." She was, put simply, a magnificent woman. Kind, honest, open, generous; the country flourished under her reign. But that all changed in March. Suddenly, she became much more reclusive, didn't see as many people, and simply hid in her castle. The strangest part was the almost immediate replacement of her castle protectorate - the 3rd Division. They were replaced basically all at once, which was odd because the monarch herself never replaced soldiers, only leaving it up to the commanding officers if they wanted to drop someone out of the squadron. This was the second red flag - the first being the sudden isolation. We went the whole month of April without being needed once. Previously we were pulled into action at least once a week, sometimes being active for a couple of weeks on end.

The third red flag was the exiling of her own sister. That caused a lot of controversy in the public scene, but she made an "open and honest" speech about uncovering a conspiracy to dethrone her orchestrated by the 3rd Division and her sister, and for her sister's sake to avoid her being executed for treason had told her to leave and never come back. That's definitely something she would've done, so most people accepted that as the truth. But so many rumours had surfaced - was her sister actually framed for the crimes, and was someone else responsible?

That's the theory Aurian had come up with; she told me and the others shortly after it had come out. None of us could believe that the Princess could have orchestrated such a scheme, and yet, there seemed to be undeniable evidence. But, as Aurian had said, "Evidence can be fabricated." None of us truly wanted to believe the Princess had planned to depose her older sister, and yet not one of us could find anything to refute this. No former members of 3rd Division were around anymore, so we couldn't even ask them. 4th Division were also hesitant to believe that she was really capable of such an act, but much like us couldn't prove it hadn't happened.

At least, they couldn't until they discovered something.

The commanding officer of 4th Division was contacted by one of the junior Royals, one known as Teresa Magdalen, who claimed to know what had happened to the Queen to change her demeanor so. Teresa Magdalen was formerly a student under the monarch herself, being the most gifted student at the Camberwell Royal College, but she became part of the Royal Family when her older brother, a Major-General in the First Army married Princess Catherine. For this reason, she was intimately familiar with the corridors of the Camberwell Royal Castle, even those the 3rd Division did not actually know about. Apparently, after members of the new 3rd Division refused to recognise her and turned her away from reaching the monarch, she snuck around to use a secret passageway up to the Royal Chamber. And what she saw there had shocked her right to her core.

The monarch had been... _replaced._ By something. Something supernatural.

Now ordinarily a threat like this would be handed off to 6th or 7th Divisions to be examined, identified, and then dealt with, whether by protecting it from others, or protecting others from it. But in this case, given the Queen would know about those divisions and most likely would've dealt with them already, there wasn't much we could do until we found someone we knew could be trusted. Until then, we had to pretend we knew nothing and continue as normal. We think the Queen went out more than she would've normally, just to test us to see if we were acting any different. Thankfully we had already dealt with the shock of learning what had happened, and were able to act as if nothing had changed. The frequent excursions stopped soon after when she either figured out we already knew, or bought that we didn't.

Given that that was nearly five weeks ago and nothing has happened since, we're almost convinced she bought it. But we still don't know if she's just waiting for us to let our guard down before she strikes.

We have identified who, or what, has replaced the monarch. Elham was able to locate one of the former members of 6th Division who quickly identified the Queen as something called a "Swapper". Both the 6th Division, being the Sanctuary team, and the 7th (Protectorate) Division had dealt with these people before. They slowly replaced communities, before draining them of their life and moving on quickly. Given they were clearly trying to conquer a whole nation, they must either be desparate or stronger than ever. We're not sure which is worse. At least, it provides some relief that the monarch hasn't been killed just yet, but we're not sure just how long we have.

* * *

This log has gone on far too long as it is. I'm not entirely sure how much of this I'm allowed to say, so keep this to your own eyes only. Good luck, future Field Marshal, and may your time in service be long and peaceful. Something tells me mine wont.

Gallan Occamy

Marshal (First Class), 5th Division (Echo Squadron), Fourth Army

**End Log**


	2. An Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Early morning dawns over Camberwell. Given it's a Wednesday morning, quite a few people are up and around. Most are heading for their jobs in the city, or taking children to school; but one girl is making her way across the town towards the Royal Castle. Her name is Teresa Magdalen, and she's late to her meeting with the monarch.

_Wednesday, April 13th 2116_

_Camberwell, Wirra_

* * *

Teresa's shoes made some rather distinctive _pap, pap_ sounds on the flagstones outside the Castle when she ran across them. The fourteen-year-old, much like about fifteen others her age, came to the castle every weekday morning to attend the private college set up by the monarch; unlike the other students her age, however, she was to head straight to the monarch's office. And right now, she was running about twenty minutes late.

In her defense, it wasn't her fault. The trains had been disrupted this morning, the buses wouldn't get her here for another half hour, and her brother Hadrian wasn't able to give her a ride. She wasn't the only one running late, either; about ten other kinds of various ages were also running across the courtyard, trying to get to their classes as quickly as possible. That being said, she was the only person there who's being late might have a profound impact on the whole country. She could only hope the princess had enough grace to forgive her this one time. It was her first late arrival in her four years at the college, after all.

Almost immediately after entering the castle - although castle is not really an accurate description of the building anymore, it acts more like a palace now - she diverged from the other students' paths and headed immediately for the spiral staircase in the West Wing. This would take her straight up to the third floor and the entrance to Princess Eleanor's office, as long as she didn't slip on the smooth stone on the way up, that is. It had been an issue in the past, especially on days when it had been raining, but she'd learned roughly how fast she could propel herself up these stairs without falling all the way back down again.

Having safely ascended the spiral stairs, she once again started sprinting along the lavishly decorated corridor. A few guards noticed her, a couple of them letting out a few chuckles as they realised what had happened. Teresa didn't really mind, she had more pressing issues to deal with; namely one potentially very angry world leader waiting behind those doors. Just a left, and a right, and then she'd be -

She didn't get to finish that thought, as she collided with a pair of very sturdy and very heavy oak doors. These doors were usually open, waiting for her to cross through them before being closed behind her, but today they had already closed, which Teresa thought did not bode well for her. Tentatively, she grabbed a handle, and pulled.

The door moved much more easily than it might have seemed, given the thickness and the heaviness, but nonetheless she still had to pull quite hard to open it. Once it was opened far enough, she stepped through and let it slam shut behind her with a loud wham. Teresa nearly jumped at this, but managed to keep her composure intact for just a second longer, until-

"Teresa Magdalen, what time do you call _this?"_

A large, almost regal voice rang out in the room. It belonged to quite possible the most influential woman in Wirra, whom Teresa had just inconvenienced possibly quite significantly.

"I'm sorry, your Highness, but the trains were disrupted this morning and I couldn't have gotten here any earlier," she replied, albeit very quietly, afraid of just what consequences she may now have to face.

"Your late arrival here has now managed to disrupt all of the rest of today's plans, now essentially forcing me to wing it, and the best excuse you could come up with is _the trains are disrupted?"_ the Princess responded, walking over to the now rather terrified girl; though even in her petrified state, Teresa still marveled at how the royal princess carried herself.

"Yes, your Highness. I know this is unacceptable, and I shall accept whatever punishment you decide to bestow upon me." Teresa couldn't bring herself to look the princess in the eyes.

Eleanor noticed this.

"Well, young lady, I have only one thing to say to you."

With that, she leaned towards the young girl, and wrapped her in a hug.

"Thank you," she said, much more softly than before.

Teresa looked up, in shock, and not quite able to comprehend what had just taken place.

"I- I'm sorry? I must have misheard you, but it almost sounds like you're thanking me for being late and ruining your plans for the day," she stuttered.

"I did, Teresa. You see, now I have an excuse to do whatever it is I want for the rest of the day, seeing as how my plans have been thrown completely off," Eleanor responded, releasing Teresa from the embrace. "It's not often I get to do something like this, so you being late this one time is actually quite the gift. Just, try not to make a habit of it."

"I'll try my best, your Highness, but I can't make promises I can't keep," Teresa responded.

"Good. Now then, for your punishment," she replied, to which Teresa once again looked at her in shock.

"M- Princess- I-"

"Regardless of the gift you have brought me today, you were still late, and under school rules I can't allow that to go unpunished," Eleanor clarified. "But, this does present me with a perfect opportunity for something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now."

Teresa remained silent, trying to figure out what the royal in front of her was planning.

Eleanor continued. "You see, I've been in need of an assistant for some time now. Nothing too intensive, merely helping me with organising meetings or day-to-day tasks. I won't be asking you to fill out paperwork for me or other such things like that; I can handle that one myself. And quite honestly, I can't think of anyone I'd like to have alongside me more than you. Given that I've been tutoring you personally for nearly four years now, and that my sister is far too busy for me to ever consider her for the position, I came to only one acceptable conclusion - you're the perfect one for the role."

"But what about schoolwork and the like? And surely I'm not qualified to take on a position like this?" Teresa responded, reeling from yet another level of shock.

Eleanor chuckled. "I don't think there's anything more I can teach you. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if you had already self-taught yourself everything on my curriculum and more. And, quite frankly, I'm not looking for someone 'qualified' to be an assistant, I'm looking for someone I won't get sick of being around five days a week, fourty-five weeks a year. If I wanted someone 'qualified', as you put it, I would've asked my secretary."

Teresa took a moment to consider all of this.

"I'd like to immediately say 'yes, let's do it,' but I have a lot of questions I need answered before that, like what would my parents think about this, and surely I'm too young to take on a job like this?"

"Wise questions indeed, Teresa. And to answer them I say this: I would never have asked you without consuling your parents first. And in terms of your age, well I wouldn't ever ask you to take on a job like this full time until you were 18, but I'd like you to work part time until them, for the same rate of course," Eleanor responded.

Once again Teresa paused, and pondered, but then responded with four simple words. "Yes, let's do it."

* * *

_Sunday, August 22nd 2120_

_Camberwell, Wirra_

* * *

"Has Hadrian told you yet?"

Princess Eleanor looked back at her young assistant - and soon-to-be niece, thanks to Charlotte and Hadrian's engagement - with some confusion.

"Told me? Teresa, I was there when it happened, and it was nearly three weeks ago now."

"No, not that, I know you were _there,"_ Teresa responded, having gained the confidence now to speak to the princess normally after working with her for four years. "My idea. I specifically asked him to tell you about a week ago when I was sick and couldn't do it myself."

"No, he hasn't told me anything yet," the royal replied. "Then again I imagine he's been rather busy with everything recently. What is this idea of yours, Teresa?"

"Has he really been too busy to see you? Never mind, it doesn't matter," she interrupted herself. "Now, this idea came to me shortly before I fell ill so I could never explain it to you."

"Go on," Eleanor affirmed.

"It might sound stupid, and you might have already tried it and decided not to but I didn't know so it's not my fault."

"Of course," Eleanor confirmed.

"So you know how your Royal Guard is part of the Infantry, your plane is operated by the Air Force, and the boats are looked after by the Navy? Well, what if they weren't?" Teresa explained.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, what if they were all managed as part of one larger unit, instead of being under each respective army's control? That way you could have greater control over it," she continued. "And anything else you wanted some control over could also be part of that group."

"I see," Eleanor reaffirmed. "It's an interesting concept, to be sure. But the armies run those for me as I don't have time to do it myself."

"Between me and Cassady, I'm sure we could handle it for you. They could run autonomously unless given explicit instructions by you through us."

"That's... I suppose I'd never thought about it that way before. I may have to talk with the relevant officers there then."

"So you will actually consider it?" Teresa inquired.

"Yes," Eleanor responded. "It would actually be useful to have an independent set of units for use on specialist operations."

"Oooh, like the Men in Black!"

"Yes, but... Not so sensationalised."

"That makes sense, I suppose," Teresa replied, somewhat dejectedly.

"Nonetheless, this is still a good idea, and I'll have to get approval for it of course, but you've certainly sparked something here."

* * *


End file.
